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From the latest (Jan/Feb 1998) Portland Free Press
http://www.radio4all.org/pfp
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The A-Infos Radio Project: Networking Grassroots Radio on the
Internet
 by Lyn Gerry

The micro-power broadcasting movement has arisen out of the desires of
people for their own media voice, and has been trying to meet this
need while battling "law enforcers" on the one hand and scant
resources on the other. The lack of money has limited the kind of
programs stations can provide to their communities. Until now,
stations have had only a few high-priced options for electronic
news-gathering at a distance: expensive satellite systems or
subscription wire services such as Associated Press, a mouthpiece for
the status quo masquerading as news. Price and content have seriously
limited the news-gathering abilities of non-commercial community radio
-- until now.

Last year, an international group of free radio broadcasters, media
activists and anarchist cyber-journalists from the A-Infos on-line
news service met on the Internet to create a low-cost system to allow
stations to share programs and transmit news using the Internet. The
result was the A-Infos Radio Project, a cooperatively operated
free-of-charge distribution system for grassroots radio broadcasters
that can move news around the world in a matter of hours and be
accessed with a home computer.

As media ownership is concentrated into the hands of a few wealthy
corporations and much of so-called public media is scrambling to
become as much like commercial media as possible, the Internet has
become the last bastion of financially accessible free speech.  Over
the last several years, grassroots volunteer journalists such as the
A-Infos News Service (http://www.tao.ca/ainfos) have distributed news
in written form over e-mail and the World Wide Web. Even so, the
Internet remains an elite and not very portable medium. Therefore, the
Radio Project's creators decided early in our discussions not to focus
on Internet listening, but rather on a way for Internet audio to be
convertable to a standard cassette tape for airing on the radio: to
marry the global reach of the Net with the democratic access and local
control of micro-power radio.

After months of testing and talking to broadcasters, the Project's
creative computer programmers were able to modify commercially
available software to suit our purposes. Because of the innovative and
idealistic nature of the project, we were able to get donations of
significant computer resources. Because we were filling a real need,
broadcasters have responded with enthusiasm. The project has had
another encouraging effect, a growing alliance between unlicensed
micro-power stations and licensed grassroots community stations that
are rejecting the trend toward commercialization and homogenization.

One such joint effort is the Grassroots News Network (GNN), which
formed as a result of the refusal of several community stations to
accept a new gag order clause included in the contract signed by
stations subscribing to the nationally distributed Pacifica Network
News. This clause was designed to prevent criticism and discussion of
union-busting activities by Pacifica Radio's new  "professional"
regime. Until the Radio Project, stations too poor to produce their
own daily newscast had two choices -- Pacifica News or the even more
expensive offerings from National Public Radio.

KOOP-FM, a licensed community station in Austin, Texas, was refused
Pacifica material because of its open condemnation of Pacifica
management. Rather than cave in to pressure from Pacifica, KOOP
decided to reach out to other disaffected community stations with a
proposal to produce their own daily newscasts by pooling their stories
via the A-Infos Radio Project. So far, more than a dozen stations are
involved in developing the GNN.  KOOP has already put its own locally
produced daily newscast on the air, using material produced by
contributors to the Radio Project across the United States.

The Radio Project has been an eye opener for those who associated low
power with low quality. Much of the material being produced by
micro-power stations is in the finest creative tradition of community
radio, and broadcasters from licensed and unlicensed stations have
been increasingly working together, breaking down the barriers caused
by micro-power radio's "illegal" status.

The A-Infos Radio Project is open to all stations and independent
radio journalists who wish to contribute, and our material is
available to any non-commercial station free or charge.  An
international all-volunteer crew collectively operates the Project and
we plan to have programs available in several languages in the future.

You can see the A-Infos Radio Project for yourself at:
http://radio4all.web.net
or e-mail radio@tao.ca for more information on how to get involved.
Other related web sites include: http://www.radio4all.org
http://www.radio4all.org/freepacifica
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The Grassroots News Network is planning a gathering for June 1998 in
Austin, Texas. For more info, see the GNN website:

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/1082/

___________________________________________________
Bruce Girard Boa
Email: bg@comunica.org          http://comunica.org
Fono/Fax: +593-2-501 180 Fax en Canada: +1-514-221-2009
Av. Atahualpa 333, Casilla 17-08-8489, Quito, Ecuador